Alan Jones loses more advertisers

The list of sponsors pulling out of broadcaster Alan Jones's radio program following his comments about Julia Gillard's father is growing, with Honda Australia, Hyundai and Telstra the latest to withdraw their advertisements.

Jones this morning defended the sincerity of his apology to Ms Gillard, claiming the "unbridled hatred" directed at him from parts of the media was motivated by jealousy.

The veteran broadcaster returned to air today for the first time since his remarks, in which he told a Sydney University Liberal Club function 10 days ago that Ms Gillard's father "died of shame", were made public late on Saturday.

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Jones opened his show on 2GB at 5.30am explaining how he came to know his comments had been published, and questioning critics who suggested his public apology on Sunday was qualified or insincere.

"I made no qualification then to my apology and I make none now," he said.

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"Of course, when I opened the press conference to the media a range of questions were asked of me, which bore on public policy and the performance of the Gillard government and my attitude to all of that.

"Those answers should not be interpreted as representing a qualification of what I said then and what I say now."

However, his apologies have not stemmed the loss of advertisers and sponsors, including major firms, which have made it clear they want to distance themselves from Jones's comments.

VIDEO: 'The old man died of shame'

Honda Australia announced last night it had instructed that all its advertising cease on 2GB, while Hyundai said it was withdrawing ads from Jones's show. The Australian International Motor Show has also withdrawn its advertising from Jones's show, while Volvo Australia said it was carefully considering any potential future advertising on 2GB.

Last night Telstra said it took the issue seriously and would not support Jones's program.

On Monday the list of sponsors who cancelled their support for Jones included Challenger, Coles, Woolworths, Mercedes-Benz, ING Direct, Dilmah Tea, Bing Lee and Freedom Furniture.

Three regional radio stations have also announced they will no longer run Jones's show.

When one Jones supporter rang this morning, telling the announcer: "More power to your right arm, buddy", Jones responded: "People just don't like the fact that we actually do take some of these people on.

"If we didn't, I just wonder where some of the public out there would be. That's the difficulty, that's the issue here.

"Long before this issue occurred, there was this unbridled hatred towards me from some sections of the media and beyond.

"And indeed ... a lot of it's based on jealousy, I guess. I've never taken any notice of that and I don't take any notice of it now.

"I'm not asking for any sympathy or support, I just get on with the job."

Before noon an online petition, via Change.org, calling for several companies to stop advertising on Jones's program had attracted over 80,000 signatures.

In his opening remarks Jones said "hatred" of him this time was designed to "intimidate, silence, even perhaps to destroy" him.

"The hatred towards me, I've long learnt, stems from the views I express.

"It recently, of course, stems from my opposition to the federal government. I don't hate anyone in politics, I hate bad policy.

"The vile attacks on me, which no one has distanced themselves from - attacks which suggest 'we hope cancer comes back', 'we hope he dies', 'we hope someone kills him' - they go on and on."

But he said he did not "back off" or "frighten easily".

"Those people who have complained about what I said about the Prime Minister and the language I used are using vile language in their comments about me. That apparently is OK.

"I don't mind; I can cop it; I can wear it and I'm not complaining.

"But if the criticism and the pressure and the headlines and the stories and the intimidation are designed to silence me in what I do on this program, then I'm sorry. The bad news is you've picked the wrong bloke."